Wasting Our Time

Wasting Our Time
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From a friend on Face book, 
Kim Toler Norris recently wrote:

"Wasting one's time is one of the biggest wrongs that can be committed against one's self.  Time is our most valuable resource because it is something that once past, can never be acquired again. In order to make the best use of our time it is crucial that we use it doing the things within our heart that we love, with the people we love, and with those who love us in return. And, sometimes we can't rely on others for love and may even have doubt among ourselves, but at the end of the day we can always rely on God and His unconditional love for us."

My humble addition:

Unfortunately, the biggest problem with our time use and management, and thus falling into sin, is we do not pray for God's guidance in everything we do.  How many decisions do we make in a day where we affect many people and other people's circumstances that we never pray for guidance in those decisions?  How quickly we get mad about something then fuss at others who made us mad, often people we love. In our anger we lash out at people and waste time and hurt ourselves more than the other. This is sinful time management. Rather, we should immediately stop, take a deep breath, think, and pray.

Jesus did this. Consider all those years He saw the temple leaders, the scribes, Pharisees, and teachers of the law in their greed violating God’s scriptures. But, Jesus lived the meekness He preached in the Beatitudes on the Sermon of the Mount.  However, in the Greek definition of that meekness, He waited to the right time, the most perfect moment to expose His tempered angryness with the people He knew wanted to kill him (Greek meaning- Meekness/Boldness).  He sat the Perfect Example of a leader, His patience was/is immeasurable.

In Matthew 23, we have Jesus' seven woes to the leaders of the day. "Woe are you...". It shows some anger but in this case in the Greek, the emphasis here of 'woe' is and means ‘to pity’. Perhaps, we should allow our anger to be transformed to pity for those who wrong us, just as in Jesus' example. 

Just as Jesus waited for years to speak out with His pity for those leaders who refused to seek to understand, so too, by His example we should do the same.  Just as God shows mercy, patience and forbearance in our sin against Him, so to we must do the same in our relationships with others. 

Just as God has “unconditional love for us”, “at the end of the day” we must do the same for our friends, family, loved ones, and yes, our enemies…. Just as Jesus did, all the way on and through the cross.

Thanks be to God

  for giving us Jesus and

    the Holy Spirit

      to show us and guide us on

        how to live our lives.

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ldcoggins@gmail.com

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